Out of Breath
by ImprovisedKatastrophe
Summary: This is a oneshot that takes place after the Dark Day bombing episode. What happened after? Did our boys reunite? Were they both really uninjured?


**Hey everybody! I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter of 'Shot's Fired'…the next chapter will be up next week at the latest! But here's the one shot I promised you to help you cope! It takes place after the bombing at Chicago Med and though Gabby is mentioned, I'm not making her the forefront of this story. All you Dawsey fans can decide to read into it as you please, anybody else can decide to ignore and focus on the beauty of Sevasey friendships!**

Matt Casey sighed wearily, collapsing onto his couch. He'd spent nearly 20 hours helping his fellow firefighters work to clear the debris and chaos surrounding Chicago Med. The bomb had caused numerous injuries, a few fatalities, and had traumatized the city as a whole. The event had also injured Shay and they'd lost Dawson in the debris.

 _Coming to on the sidewalk, Matt had felt a moment of panic before his firefighter instincts had kicked in. Scrambling to his feet, he began to organize the bystander, getting some semblance of a trauma center up and running._

 _In the process, he discovered Dawson had been buried, possibly alive. A surge of worry ran through him, immediate concern for his friend. What happened next was a blur. He remembered 51 showing up, Kelly and Hermann expertly directing their appropriate teams. This was squad's element, and seeing Severide was instantly calming. Kelly would help him find Gabby._

And he had; Kelly had followed Matt without questions, crawling and squirming through the cement and debris, eventually finding the concussed paramedic.

Once they'd assured Gabby was stable and safe, the lieutenants had leapt back into the fray, spending hours clearing the rubble and recovering people.

But now that Matt was finally home, he felt the multitude of bruises and aches he'd acquired earlier in the day. Groaning softly, he sunk further into the couch, content to not move again for hours. Soon after, he felt his eyes drift close, sleep overtaking him.

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Severide left the parking lot at Chicago Med, adrenaline still pumping through his veins. It had been a hell of a day; the explosion, finding Dawson, hearing about Shay. After seeing for himself that his roommate was alright, Kelly felt a bit calmer.

Still, it was a night he didn't feel like going home alone, and with Shay still in the hospital, he decided to swing by Matt's. Severide remembered how anxious he'd felt that morning. As soon as the call of a bombing had gone through, Chicago Med as its detonation zone, Kelly had felt his blood chill. Matt was there, volunteering for the day.

Pulling up to the scene and seeing him upright was instant relief. He'd eventually lost track of Casey in the chaos, each man doing their best to help. Boden later told him he'd sent the off-duty fireman home toward the end of the cleanup. That in mind, Kelly picked up a case of beer before heading to his friend's house. He was sure Matt would be open to ordering a pizza or something.

Arriving at Matt's house, Kelly knocked on the door, peering inside. Snickering at the sight of his sleeping friend, the squad lieutenant fished out the spare key from his pocket, letting himself in. bypassing the couch, he put the beer in the fridge before placing an order at Matt's favorite pizza joint.

Moving to sit on the coffee table across from Matt, Kelly smiled fondly. His surrogate brother was sound asleep; head tipped back, mouth open, and ragdoll like. Deciding his friend would be more comfortable in his own bed, after dinner and a shower, Severide placed a gentle hand on Casey's shoulder. Giving a small shake, he tried to rouse the other man.

"Matt, hey Matty? Wake up!"

The blonde in question blinked slowly before waking up fully. Seeing his friend so close, and unexpectedly, Matt let out a surprised yelp before attempting to scramble backwards on the couch.

"Woah, easy, bud," Severide soothed, hands up in surrender. "Just me…"

"Jesus, Sev!" Casey gasped, breath coming raggedly. There was a sharp pain when he inhaled too deeply. "You scared the hell out of me…"

"Sorry," he shrugged. "Just wanted some company after today and all…"

"S'fine," Matt panted, beginning to get concerned. His racing heart hadn't slowed as he sought to control his breathing. A sudden roaring filled his ears as Kelly frowned.

"Matt? You okay?"

"Can't… can't breathe," he gasped, brows furrowing. "H'rts…"

Grabbing his friend's shoulders, Kelly fought down the panic welling inside. "Shh Matt, just breathe, okay? Try to follow my breathing, okay? In…out…slow, deep breaths."

The blonde tried valiantly to follow Severide's instructions. Unfortunately, his darkening vision proved too strong and he slumped, unconscious, into Kelly's arms. Cursing, Kelly laid Matt flat, feeling frantically for a pulse. Finding a strong, albeit fast, one, he quickly checked to see if the blonde was breathing on his own. Thankfully, the younger man was, exhaling in brief gasps.

"What the hell, Matt?" he mused, utterly confused. Had that been some rare heart attack? Or some kind of allergic reaction?

Digging his phone out of his pocket, Kelly nearly cried when he saw Shay calling him.

" _Hey, Kel…"_

"Oh thank God," he cut her off. "I scared Matt to death or something…"

" _What? Wow, that's cool…I hope you got photos!"_

"No, not like that, Shay! He stopped breathing, well no he's still breathing but he was complaining of his chest hurting and then he suddenly passed out…"

" _Is he part rabbit? Did you know you can actually scare them to death?"_

"SHAY," he cut off, putting her on speaker. "This is serious. I have an unconscious Matt on his couch. His pulse is rapid, he passed out, he was complaining that breathing hurt, then he hyperventilated and passed out!"

" _Relax, he's still breathing right?"_

"Yeah, a bit shallow but good…"

" _Alright good. Was he coughing before he fainted? Or gasping or something?"_

"Yeah, I scared him and he gasped and then he was like hyperventilating or something…he said it hurt to breathe…"

" _Okay, so relax, it sounds like syncope, he just fainted…something caused him to shorten his breath to the point that it cut off sufficient oxygen to his brain so he passed out. Now if he doesn't come around in the next few minutes, it's a different story. If this is syncope, then his brain is replenishing oxygen and then he'll wake up. Now you need to find out what cut off the oxygen to his brain. A healthy man shouldn't pass out because you scared him."_

"Okay, okay…like what?"

" _Jesus, Severide, did you train to be a firefighter or what? Check his torso, the idiot probably hurt himself crawling around in the cement playground earlier."_

"Right, right…sorry. I just got a little bit flustered," Kelly muttered, gently running his hands along Matt's ribcage. Feeling a slight give, he cursed, pulling the tshirt up. "He's got badly bruised ribs, Shay…maybe broken. Looks like someone took a sledge hammer to him. Dammit why does he never tell anybody he's hurt?"

"Why are you feeling me up, Kel?" the blonde in question muttered weakly.

"Matt? Matt, you okay?" Severide asked, moving to brace his friend's face. "You with me, man?"

"Yeah…what happened?" he managed.

 _"You suffered a brief syncope…." Shay explained from the phone._

"A what?" Matt asked, attempting to sit up.

Kelly stopped him. "She means you fainted and scared the frickin' hell outta me! You just passed out you moron! Now stay still…"

 _"Kelly scared you half to death apparently…"_

"You," Kelly continued, pointing forcefully at his blonde counterpart. "You concealed your possibly broken ribs, which you jostled when I startled you, that caused you to go all syncopated!"

 _"Syncope, Kel…syncopated is like music or something…"_

"Whatever! The point is that you didn't tell anyone about your ribs. You were crawling through mountains of rubble and cement blocks…you helped with all of the recovery…Matt you should've been in a bed next to Shay!"

"It's not that bad, Kel…" Matt protested, earning himself a glare. "Really, I promise I didn't even notice it til I got home. I…ouch!"

Kelly shook his head, muttering about adrenaline. "Yeah, I bet that hurt. I'll have to wrap these for you in a second. You did a real number on 3 or 4 of these ribs here, Trouble…I knew it was too good to be true when I saw you standing there. What did you hit?"

"A curb I guess…that's where I woke up at least…" the truck lieutenant recalled.

 _"Oooh ouch, and I thought rebar was bad,"_ Shay quipped. _"You win for today, Matt! You definitely gave Kel the biggest heart attack!"_

"Nobody wins, nobody gets to give me a heart attack, nobody gets to have a heart attack," Severide announced, helping Casey sit up carefully.

 _"Yep, guess the surprise birthday parties are out of the picture now, huh?"_

Matt erupted into soft snickers as Kelly hung the phone up, grumbling as he went to retrieve bandages. Quickly returning, he gestured to his amused counterpart. "Alright, Rotten, arms up…carefully now, you know the drill. I can't even begin to count the amount of times I've done this for you…"

"I just like to give you practice," Matt managed tightly, wincing as his ribs were properly supported and held. "Never know when you might decide to become a nurse…"

"Yeah? Well I've got tons of experience," Kelly agreed, ruffling Matt's hair when he finished the wrap.

"And one hell of a bedside manner!"

Severide just smiled and moved to sit next to his brother. It had been a hell of a day, but his family was alive, a game was about to come on, and pizza would be delivered any minute. Life was full of adventure and excitement, but today, they'd all made it out alive.

 **What'd you think? Want another one shot? Have some ideas for some new ones? REVIEW! Let me know!**


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